McDonnell Douglas A-4N N263WL

Summary

On 10 May 2003 at about 18:09 local time, a McDonnell Douglas A-4N registered N263WL was involved in an accident near Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

10 May 2003 at 18:09

Classification

Accident

Location

Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

Coordinates

40.8931, -112.2761

Aircraft

McDonnell Douglas A-4N

Registration

N263WL

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Public Use

Purpose of flight

Positioning

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Mesa → Ogden

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

DEN03TA079

1 person died.

The lose of engine power during descent due to the in-flight collision with a bird which FOD damaged the engine and subsequently melted the turbine section. A contributing factor was the airplane's malfunctioning ejection seat.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane was a former military (non-certificated) aircraft which was under contract to the U.S. Army. It was descending over the Great Salt Lake for landing at Hill Air Force Base when the engine ingested a bird. Subsequently the engine was heavily FOD damaged, and the turbine section was melted. The pilot ejected from the airplane, but the ejection seat system malfunctioned and the pilot was fatally injured. The airplane impacted the lake. The airplane had been contracted and built for the Israeli Defense Force in 1974. The maintenance log books and physical evidence indicated that they had made modifications to the ejection seat assembly. Naval Air Station (NAVAIR DEPOT), Jacksonville, Florida, personnel evaluated the ejection seat system and determined that the left hand coupling assembly (which has very critical parameters for proper operation) had not separated as designed. The NAVAIR DEPOT personnel could not determine the reason the left hand coupling assembly did not operate properly, as the airplane's cockpit was not recovered from the Great Salt Lake.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.